"In Door County in 1871, Winfield Scott terminated her sailing days when she got caught in a heavy southeast gale between Spider Island and Death's Door Passage. One violent gust caused the Scott's masts to point towards the bottom of Lake Michigan as her crew and Captain Henry Forth hastily left her decks. The sailors were rescued, but the capsized Scott drifted northward and was not located until September 7 when her shattered hull was found near Washington Island. The ship was a total loss...".

Today

"The Winfield Scott lies in the shallows between Hog Island and Washington Island, in about 7 feet of water on a sand and bedrock bottom. The main wreck consists of bilges, keelsons, and centerboard trunk; the bow is oriented to the northwest (inshore).... The vessel was salvaged at the time of the wreck and has also been scavenged. The site contains no artifacts other than drift pins and the hull structural elements."